GDT #33: Blues @ Wild | 7:00 pm CT | FSMW, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota hosts St. Louis looking to prolong its 10-game home winning streak.

The Wild are 20-10-1 against division opponents. Minnesota averages 9.2 penalty minutes per game, the ninth-most in the NHL. Jordan Greenway leads the team serving 38 total minutes.

The Blues are 16-11-5 against division opponents. St. Louis has given up 28 power-play goals, killing 73.3% of opponent chances.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild with 26 points, scoring 10 goals and adding 16 assists. Jared Spurgeon has three goals over the last 10 games for Minnesota.

David Perron leads the Blues with 12 goals and has 33 points. Ryan O'Reilly has three goals and eight assists over the last 10 games for St. Louis.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 7-3-0, averaging 2.5 goals, 4.2 assists, 3.5 penalties and 9.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game with a .930 save percentage.

Blues: 4-3-3, averaging 2.4 goals, 4.5 assists, 2.9 penalties and 6.7 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game with an .896 save percentage.

INJURIES: Wild: Mathew Dumba: day to day (lower body), Marcus Foligno: out (leg), Zach Parise: day to day (health protocols).

Blues: Carl Gunnarsson: out for season (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist: out for season (knee), Ivan Barbashev: out (lower body), MacKenzie MacEachern: out (upper body), Colton Parayko: out (upper body).

[gaijin]

Mini Sodas? Who dis?

Sounds like the type of game where the Blues will take a ton of retaliation penalties and give up multiple power play goals.

[Robb_K]

Right away The Blues take a penalty!

[Robb_K]

The Blues make a great kill with no SOG, and then draw a penalty. Let's score a PP goal!!

[ibldbl]

Close to a goal from Thomas. Thank God he's back.

[Robb_K]

Not a bad 1st Period. But, it looks like The Blues will need to use the rest of this short regular season to refine their team play and be ready to play their real game during the playoffs. They'll probably look a little out of sync until the last week or so, after the better players have played together enough. I hope Parayko can be back soon, and. he'll really be 100%.

[ibldbl]

Well, that's disappointing. Anyone want to play left D?

[Robb_K]

The Wild's checking isn't nearly as tight as The Knights' or The Kings'. There's a LOT of open ice when The Blues get the puck. I see The Blues scoring 3-4 goals tonight.

[Robb_K]

Good save by Binnington!

[ibldbl]

Argh! shots are 20-8 and we're down 0-2. WTF? Its not Binnington.

[Portland Blues]

The Wild's checking isn't nearly as tight as The Knights' or The Kings'. There's a LOT of open ice when The Blues get the puck. I see The Blues scoring 3-4 goals tonight.

Jinx!

[Robb_K]

A VERY disappointing game. The Blues looked a little better than the last few games, but they didn't go to the net consistently until near the end of the game.

[theohall]

Frustrating way too lose. Two mistakes - two goals against. Play their butts off with a strong forecheck almost the entire game, yet get shutout. Ouch!!

[gaijin]

Yep, frustrating. No puck luck in this game for sure. Seems to be happening more often than not this season.